Life Isn't FairDeal With It
by Senrath
Summary: What if Sasuke had died right after the attack on the Sand by Akatsuki? And what if Naruto blamed himself for Sasuke's death? NaruHina.


Hey Naruto Fans! This is my second ever fan fiction (I wrote it while I waited to be able to upload my stories to ffnet), so I'm still learning. Anyway, this is a NaruHina piece, just like my first one. I guess I'm pretty obsessed with that coupling. That, and NaruSaku…and NaruIno…and NaruTenTen…Okay, so I'm just obsessed with NaruAnything couplings, as long as they're straight. Yaoi doesn't do much for me, at least not for Naruto, anyway. It just doesn't ring true for me… Anyway, before you ask, I do not have a crush on Naruto. If I did, my stories would probably all be NaruOC. No, I don't have a crush on him. In fact, I don't have a crush on any Naruto characters (except for a tiny one on Hinata, and an even smaller one on Temari), especially not on any of the boys, since I am a boy myself.

Anyway, this story takes place sometime after the current Manga Arc. I won't be referencing that, though, since I don't have access to much of it.

Okay, so enough of these A/Ns, and on to the story!

------------------------------------------------------

Life Isn't Fair…Deal With It

It seemed every one in Konoha, even those who hadn't known him very well, had come. After all, everyone had heard of Uchiha Sasuke, the lone survivor of the Uchiha clan. Other than his brother, Itachi, of course. Or rather, they had heard of the boy named Uchiha Sasuke who _had_ been the lone survivor of the Uchiha clan, a clan that now no longer existed.

Haruno Sakura couldn't stand it any more. After doing all she could to remain strong, she collapsed onto the ground in front of the casket displaying the still beautiful body of Sasuke, and began to sob.

There was another casket next to it, containing the body of Itachi, but whatever had finally killed the older Uchiha had mangled the corpse so much that it was almost unrecognizable, and not fit for display. _Almost_ unrecognizable, which made things so much worse, because there was still some of the beauty that Itachi had held in life. A cold beauty, perhaps, but still beauty.

Soon, Sakura was joined by Yamanaka Ino, who was also crying her eyes out. Both girls had loved Sasuke, and they had almost lost their friendship at several points because of that. But now, with Sasuke now dead, they had no qualms about holding each other tightly as they cried.

There was one boy missing for the funeral, however. One Uzumaki Naruto, the last person to see Sasuke before he was killed, and perhaps the person most affected by Sasuke's passing. This fact was quickly noticed by Hyuga Hinata, the only girl, it seemed, who hadn't had a crush on Sasuke at one point or another. No, Hinata had dedicated herself to Naruto from the very beginning, even though she was too shy to tell him, and he was too oblivious to notice anything funny about her. He just thought she was a naturally nervous and clumsy girl… which she was, for the most part, but nowhere near as badly as when she was around him. So, her mind made up, she placed her flower at the base of Sasuke's casket, and left as quickly as she could without attracting attention. After all, Sasuke hadn't been a big part of her life, and she probably would have barely mourned his passing if it hadn't hit all of her friends so hard.

So, she went looking for Naruto, without much success at first. All of the obvious places were either closed, the Ichakaru Ramen Shop, for instance, or he just wasn't there, like his apartment. About to give up, she gasped as she spotted what appeared to be a person, collapsed at the base of the Hokage monument. And that bright orange jumpsuit meant it had to be Naruto! Who else would be wearing an orange jumpsuit, especially on today. So, smiling slightly for the first time that day, she ran towards him, calling out his name. "Naruto-kun!"

He didn't answer. In fact, he didn't even move. And, getting closer, she found out why. Hinata let out a strangled sob as she collapsed next to him, her hand reaching out to gently touch him. His normally perfect body was a mess. It was one giant mass of bruises, cuts, and breaks. The bone in his leg was even sticking out a bit. Apparently he had been beating himself up over Sasuke's death, quite literally, in fact, and then attempted a half-hearted suicide by jumping off the Hokage monument. The odd angle his neck was in indicated his apparent success.

Hinata would have contented herself to lie there next to the boy she loved forever, never moving again, but she had to know for certain. So, she carefully pressed two fingers against his neck and gasped. There was a pulse! Naruto was still alive! Quickly, Hinata jumped to her feet and took off running, praying that they wouldn't be too late.

Tsunade frowned as she saw that Hyuga girl running at her. What was her name again? Oh, right, it was Hinata. But something didn't seem right. It took Tsunade a moment before she realized what it was. Hinata didn't exactly seem depressed like all the others who were left, just the close friends at the moment. In fact, she seemed scared.

Hinata paused only for a moment to catch her breath before speaking, cutting off the Hokage as she tried to speak. "Hokage-sama! It's Naruto! He tried to commit suicide by jumping off the Hokage monument!" Hinata watched as Tsunade's eyes grew large, and followed her as she took off running, quickly followed by all of the others: Haruno Sakura, Yamanaka Ino, Rock Lee, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji, Hyuga Neji, TenTen, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino. All of them were thinking the same thing: No! We can't lose Naruto now, as well!

------------

Three Days Later 

Naruto's eyes fluttered open and he groaned. "Wh-where am I?"

Hinata, who hadn't left Naruto's side at all since they had gotten him to the hospital, jerked her head upwards, smiling. "N-Naruto-kun! Y-You're alright! And you're in th-the h-hospital." She then blushed and tapped her index fingers together like she always did when she was nervous.

Currently, the room was empty, save for Hinata and himself. Seeing this, he smiled softly and looked down at his lap as he sat up. "Yeah…I guess I am alright." Then, without warning, Naruto made as if to attack Hinata, forming a rasengan in his hand. Hinata didn't even have time to scream before he made it plain that he wasn't going to attack her, and made to shove the rasengan into his own chest. Gasping, Hinata quickly reached out and grabbed Naruto's wrist, stopping the deadly blow just in the nick of time. "Hinata! Let go of me!"

Hinata shook her head, and when she spoke, it was without a stutter. "No! I won't let you kill yourself!" Then, as she continued to keep Naruto from plunging the orb of swirling energy into his body, she turned her head and called out. "Hokage-sama! Kiba-kun! Shikamaru-kun! Somebody, anybody! Help!"

Within a moment Tsunade and Rock Lee had entered the room and were grappling as well with Naruto. Thanks to Tsunade's enhanced strength, forcing the rasengan away from Naruto should have been easy. But in his fevered state, Naruto was steadily gaining strength, instead of tiring out, and was slowly pulling the orb closer to him. Just when the energy came in contact with Naruto's skin, Neji burst into the room and used the 128 hands technique on Naruto, causing the rasengan to vanish and Naruto to be forced downwards into the hospital bed, moaning in pain, and blacking out. Quickly, they strapped the now unconscious Naruto down, and Tsunade healed the wounds inflicted by the 128 hands and the rasengan.

------------

One Week Later 

Naruto hadn't woken up again since his second attempt at suicide, and to top things off, Hinata was still refusing to move from Naruto's side, and the toll was beginning to show. At several points throughout each day, every one of Naruto's friends came to visit him, including Sakura and Ino, who had both fallen into critical condition upon seeing Naruto's broken body at the foot of the monument, believing him dead, and had just recovered the day after Naruto tried to commit suicide again.

Today, however, Naruto awoke with a start and began straining against the straps that held him in place. The fevered strength he had possessed before seemed to have dissipated, however, so he barely succeeded in moving the straps.

Hinata quickly noticed he was awake, since her head had been pressed against his side as she slept, and gently touched his cheek. "Shh, don't struggle." As she spoke, she somehow managed to keep the stammer out of her voice, trying as hard as she could not to upset him.

Naruto then began to cry softly as he lay still. "Please, just let me die. I can't stand living anymore."

Hinata began to cry as well at this, but quickly wiped away her own tears, then Naruto's as well. "Why? Why can't you stand living?"

"Because it's my fault! It's my fault Sasuke's dead! Me! If I hadn't been there, he would've been alright!" This, of course, was pure rubbish, but Naruto felt that it was, and because of that, he could not bear to be alive while Sasuke was not.

Hinata shook her head and began to stroke Naruto's hair, quickly stopping as he struggled under her touch. "No it isn't. Hokage-sama said that he died from a toxin. Even if you hadn't been there, he would have died. You couldn't have done anything."

Naruto burst into more tears at this and relaxed even further. "Oh my god. It wasn't my fault? And I just…oh my…How…how are the others?"

Hinata smiled, seeing that he was coming back to his normal self, and began to un-strap Naruto from the bed. "They're…okay, all things considered. Sakura-chan and Ino-chan both seemed to lose the will to live for a while there, after they saw you lying at the foot of the monument, but they're okay now."

Once he was free from the straps that had held him to the bed, he wrapped his arms around Hinata and hugged her tightly, sobbing into her shoulder. "I'm so sorry…I…I didn't mean to cause so much pain."

Hinata blushed as she slowly returned the embrace, gently rubbing Naruto's back, trying to calm him down. "It's okay. Everything turned out fine."

"Thank you, Hinata-chan." Naruto then realized something and pulled back from the embrace. "Hinata-chan! You're not stuttering! What happened?"

Hinata blushed again and tapped her fingers together. "Well, I didn't want to worry you, so I worked on speaking properly. That, and I was tired of everyone finishing my sentences."

Naruto nodded sagely and grinned. "That makes sense. Oh, and did anyone ever tell you that you look really cute when you blush?"

This comment, of course, caused Hinata to blush even more then she already was, and hid her head in her hands, slowly shaking it.

Naruto frowned and leaned closer to Hinata. "Did I say something wrong? If I did, I'm sorry."

Hinata shook her head again and slowly looked up, gasping at how close Naruto's face was to hers, at how close his lips were to hers… Slowly, she leaned forwards just a bit more and kissed Naruto softly on the lips.

Naruto's eyes went wide at this, but he found himself kissing Hinata back. When they parted, he smiled and hugged her to him. "So that's why you were always extra nervous around me."

Hinata nodded, but didn't say anything, for fear that it would break the moment. Instead, she hugged him back and sighed contentedly. After holding each other for a long moment, then pulled apart slightly, and kissed again.

As Tsunade looked into the room to see how Naruto and Hinata were doing, she had to suppress a gasp, then smiled. Slowly, she turned and left, unwilling to disturb the new couple for anything. She'd just come back later…

------------------------------------------------------

Well, there it is people! My second (and longest) piece of work! Please R&R! And, although I won't be like those annoying people who say that they won't ever post again if they don't get enough reviews, I will say this: While this piece was intended to be a one-shot when I started writing it, I decided half-way through that I _might_ turn it into a longer work, depending on how many people want me too. There is no fixed number, and I might decide to continue it without anyone wanting me to. But I will turn it into a longer work no matter what, if it is clear that many people want me to. And don't worry, I'll still be working on my NaruSaku fic.

Anyway, if you need to contact me please email me. And DO NOT include the words: college, university, or school ANYWHERE in your message. I have filters set up to block mail like that (since my inbox was being flooded by various colleges and universities, which seemed to have more email addresses than could readily be blocked).


End file.
